OWNERSHIP
HISTORY
CONDITIONS
DESIGN ISSUES
PLANNING PROCESSES

OWNERSHIP:
City of Boston Department of Parks and Recreation

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HISTORY:
When landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted designed Franklin Park in the late 1800s, he placed the entrances to the park where the most people were and where public transportation was. Originally, Forest Hills Street, American Legion Highway, and Morton Street had one entrance each. The Playstead, on the other hand, had five entrances because that area was designed for crowds.

According to the original plan, the three major gateways to Franklin Park were to be at Blue Hill Avenue, at Forest Hills, and at the Valley Gate, which demarcated the boundary between the active and passive sections of the park. These original three gates were very similar in style to the ones that still exist at Arnold Arboretum today.

The original carriage entrances were at Morton Street, American Legion Highway (then Canterbury Street), Elm Hill Avenue, and Walnut Street.

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CONDITIONS:
(Both major and minor entrances are described clockwise around Franklin Park beginning from the main entrance at Blue Hill Avenue. For more information about a particular entrance, try Shea Circle/ Morton Circle/ Morton Rotary, Peabody Circle, Glen Road/ Green Street/ Sigourney Street, Humboldt/ Homestead (area of Roxbury), Morton Street (entrance to Franklin Park blocked in 2002)).

Blue Hill Avenue - Peabody Circle (MAJOR):
This is the main entry to Franklin Park and to the Franklin Park Zoo. It is located at the intersection of Columbia Road, Circuit Drive, and Blue Hill Avenue. It includes a parking area and a stop light that facilitates crossing by pedestrians. The area in front of the zoo is landscaped with planted flowerbeds, but the entrance is dominated by traffic and asphalt. There is no signage here for the park as a whole, nor is there a gateway to mark the transition from the city into park. Blue Hill Avenue is a fast-moving eight-lane road, and this entrance can be intimidating for pedestrians.

Blue Hill Avenue (south of main entrance):
Two sets of stairs access the park at this location. The stairs are on either side of a blocked entryway with high stone walls on either side that have no current function. These sets of stairs once provided access to the Refectory, which no longer exists, and also the parking lot associated with the Franklin Park Golf Course. Currently, this entrance has a forlorn appearance and is seldom used.

Wales Street:
This entrance lies at the corner of Blue Hill Avenue and American Legion Highway. The entrance was completed in 1908 at which time it led to a stone drinking fountain with benches and a lovely view. The Wales entrance was clogged up with weeds in the decades preceding 1983, when the Franklin Park Coalition Work Crew cleared it. Today, there are unpaved walking trails heading in two directions from the entrance towards the paved road alongside the Franklin Park Golf Course. The traffic at the corner of American Legion Highway and Blue Hill Avenue is fast-moving and intimidating to many pedestrians.

American Legion Highway at Angel Street:
Frederick Law Olmsted designed this entrance to be a physical connection between Franklin Field and Franklin Park. There is a faded crosswalk here, but no traffic light. The entrance opens up to a tot-lot and a paved road from which vehicles are excluded. There is no signage to reinforce the connection between Franklin Field and Franklin Park.

American Legion Highway parking area across from Franklin Hill public housing:
There is room for several cars to park here. Cars are sometimes abandoned here. Vehicular access is blocked, but there is room for pedestrians. The wall is deteriorating here. The tot-lot is accessible from this location. It is also possible to begin walking on "The Loop" from here. The Loop refers to a paved walking path that has become wildly popular in recent years among minority communities in particular.

This entrance has proven dangerous for pedestrians in the past. On May 18, 1995, a 12-year-old Dorchester boy was critically injured while riding his bike across American Legion Highway from his home at Franklin Hill Public Housing to Franklin Park.

American Legion Highway across from Lena Park Community Development Corporation:
The American Legion Highway entrance is at the southern edge of several high-density housing developments. There is a faded crosswalk with a quick-response walk signal across the street from Lena Park Community Development Corporation (CDC). This is not a well-used entrance to Franklin Park. The paths are overgrown and the woodlands are uncared for.

Morton Street:
The Morton Street entrance just southeast of Shattuck Hospital is blocked by slabs of concrete. There is a small crack wide enough for a pedestrian to pass through. The area is covered in weeds and there is significant trash here. There is a second barrier after the cement blocks -- this one is a gate. This gate appears to be redundant since access is already blocked. There is no delineated pedestrian access. Those who do manage to access the park from this blocked entrance are rewarded with easy access to Scarboro Pond, the trails that encircle it, and a stone bridge that crosses the water and offers a gorgeous and far-sighted view of the area. Bird life and many wetland plant species not present in other areas of the park are located in here. This is an extremely beautiful section of the park, and the only section with water.

There is no sign for Franklin Park at this location. Indeed, there is no sign at all along Morton Street to orient visitors or even to let them know that they are driving along the edge of Franklin Park. Signage present in the area around the former entrance says "Do Not Enter" twice and then "Tow Zone," as well as, "Caution! Pedestrians Please Use Pathway. Blind Curb and Vehicular Traffic Ahead." During business hours, there is a steady stream of Parks Department vehicles traveling to and from the Parks Department maintenance yard.

According to the 1991 Franklin Park Master Plan, this blocked entrance creates a dead space in the park. The plan recommends reclaiming this corridor: "Although there is virtually no pedestrian entry into the park from Morton Street, narrowing this access route to a pedestrian scale will permit a different and more sympathetic access control design at the street edge and allow the removal of the control gate near the pond, reintegrating this space into the park" (p79).

Cemetery Road:
At Cemetery Road in the Forest Hills area, a stone staircase leads up the side of a bridge and onto the top of Circuit Drive, within Franklin Park. These stairs are a major pedestrian link between Franklin Park and Forest Hills Cemetery. This land around this connection is completely overgrown in the summer of 2002, despite the fact that the Department of Parks and Recreation cleared out all ground vegetation during the previous winter. When overgrown, this entrance feels dangerous and trashy. A homeless person made a temporary home in the woods here when the area was completely overgrown.

Shea Circle (pedestrian entrance at Morton Street):
This is a paved pedestrian entrance to the park directly across from the new elderly housing complex on Morton Street. There is no signage or map for the park. Crossing Morton Street here is extremely difficult and the pavement into the park is cracked and patchy.

Shea Circle (vehicular entrance) (MAJOR):
This is the major entrance to or through Franklin Park for motor vehicles from Jamaica Plain/ Forest Hills. The Forest Hills entrance was originally one of two major, gated entry points to the park. The stone and iron gates were designed by H.H. Richardson and both the bridge and the gate were completed in 1895. The gates were removed in 1901 by the Parks Department.

Because of the lack of a gateway, there is currently little sense of transition between outside and inside the park. This problem is exacerbated by the presence of Shattuck Hospital and Shattuck Shelter, which lie close to the entrance.

In 1985 there was a plan to reconstruct the gates and perhaps to build a fountain here using a $130,000 grant from the city's "Browne Fund." There is no fountain or gate at the entrance currently, so it seems that this plan was foiled or the funds redirected to landscaping and other types of improvements.

Shea Circle (at Forest Hills Street):
This minor entrance is filled with weeds and is typically trashy. There is no signage. There is nothing to orient the visitor. The trail is not clear. There is a gap in the stone wall to allow pedestrians to enter. According to Bernard Lynch, director of maintenance for the City of Boston Department of Parks and Recreation, there is "no life" in this area of the park.

Williams Street (MAJOR):
The Williams Street entrance is a main entrance into the Wilderness. A lit crosswalk facilitates pedestrian crossing of Forest Hills Street and a paved path leads to the base of the 99 steps and through the original stone Ellicott Arch. There is a sign for Franklin Park at the Williams Street entrance and the way is blocked to vehicles by blocks of Roxbury Puddingstone. Runoff from west of Ellicott Arch is channeled along the Williams Street entrance. After rains, this area is often flooded on both sides of the path. The water often flows out of the park and onto the street. Red maples, a wetland indicator species, line this part of the walkway.

The original plan for Franklin Park shows a partially paved triangle of tree-filled land at the corner of Forest Hills Street and Williams Street at the pedestrian entrance to Franklin Park. This landscaped court was never built, and by 1980 this entrance was in very poor condition. The Williams Street Entrance was restored in 1981 as a result of work by the Franklin Park Coalition.

Forest Hills:
There is a gap in the fence that borders part of Franklin Park along Forest Hills Street. The gap is located across from the Parkside Christian Academy/ Bethel A.M.E. Church. It allows for pedestrian access to rough trails in the Wilderness. There is a well-worn trail leading into the park from this location.

Glen Road (MAJOR):
At Glen Road there is a formal entrance to the park. This entrance was originally intended to be the quickest possible route from Green Street to Blue Hill Avenue. It was designed for non-park users as a cut-through and as a demarcation between the Country Park and the Ante-Park. Today, it is no longer possible to drive into the park on Glen Road. The entrance is blocked to vehicles by a gate.

This is the entrance to the park that is most easily accessed by the MBTA Orange Line. According to Parks Department officials, a steady stream visitors access the park here via the Green Street Station and Green Street, which turns into Glen Road east of Washington Street. Access to the entrance is not facilitated, however, by signage, either at the station, or at the entrance to the park. The only sign in the area warns people to keep their dogs leashed. There is space for about five vehicles to park here.

In 2002, the Franklin Park Coalition established a "pocket stewardship group" for this entrance of the park. The group, comprised almost entirely of nearby residents, has met to clean and weed this entrance.

Sigourney Street:
There is a formal pedestrian entrance into the Wilderness on Sigourney Street between Robeson Street and Glen Road. There is no sign for the park here, but there is a well-worn path and a trash can. This entrance is defined by the enormous rounded boulders of Roxbury Puddingstone that are found in this otherwise flat section of the Wilderness. The Franklin Park Coalition has facilitated the development of a "pocket stewardship committee" for this section of the park, known as "the Steading." In 2001 and 2002, this group of community members weeded the area, planted flowers at the entrance, and picked up trash in the woods.

The homes on Sigourney Street were built between 1890 and 1900 just after the park was established. The entrance went through a period of disuse in the 1970s and early 1980s. Then the Franklin Park Coalition blocked the Steading area to vehicles, and crime in the area declined dramatically. Even vulnerable elderly residents began to use the entrance again (Heath, R. Franklin Park: A Century's Appraisal, 1985).

Walnut Avenue - George Robert White Stadium (MAJOR):
There is a gated vehicular entrance to the White Schoolboy Stadium on Walnut Street that leads to a small, paved parking area and a gated barrier beyond which there is a larger parking area behind the Stadium. This is an unattractive, disorienting entrance, and there is no sign for Franklin Park here.

Walnut Avenue - Tot-lot:
There is a formal, pleasant, landscaped pedestrian entrance to the park that is associated with El Parquecito de la Hermanidad/ Covenant Playground. Beside this entrance is an unwelcoming entrance to the park -- a wide paved road that has been blocked by chunks of cement for two decades. The road is much wider than is necessary for vehicular access, but is not used at all for vehicular access.

Walnut Avenue and Seaver Street (Long Crouch Woods Entrance):
Four stone stairs lead from this major intersection into the park. This entrance was completed in 1909. There are no signs here and the trail leads to the Long Crouch Woods, which are derelict and considered by frequent park users to be less safe than other areas of the park. In 2001-2002 the Boston Parks Department invested in cleaning the perimeter of this area around the rock outcroppings to make the entrance and the area more inviting.

Humboldt Avenue and Seaver Street (MAJOR):
Today, the Humboldt Avenue entrance consists of a circular parking lot with a pedestrian entrance to the side that is adjacent to a well-used playground. The parking lot is seldom used except by the church across the street, which uses the lot on Saturdays and Sundays and keeps it locked up most other times.

The Humboldt Avenue entrance was a streetcar "turnaround" beginning in 1915, and subsequently a bus stop until 1982. The entrance was reconstructed in 1985 and part of a new wall was constructed. The MBTA and Boston Parks Department dedicated a total of $175,000 to rebuilding the entrance. The first Franklin Park Coalition work crew, comprised of 14 teenagers, cleared and cleaned many sections of the park, including the Humboldt Avenue entrance, which was overwhelmed with rubbish at the time.

Elm Hill Avenue/ Seaver Street:
This former vehicular entrance was blocked off with unattractive, uninviting concrete blocks. It is still possible for pedestrians to access the park from this location, although the entrance represents a "dead end" for walkers and bikers who find themselves dumped onto Seaver Street. They can either retrace their steps back into the park or walk north on a narrow sidewalk along Seaver Street. There is no sidewalk south of this entrance.

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DESIGN ISSUES:
Overgrown entrances:
American Legion Highway (across from Lena Park)
Blue Hill Avenue (south of main entrance at Columbia Road)
Cemetery Road (Forest Hills)
Gap in fence on Forest Hills Street
Walnut and Columbus
Shea Circle (at Forest Hills Street)

Blocked entrances that were previously open to vehicular traffic:
Morton Street (near Scarboro Pond)
Walnut Avenue (just north of Parquesita tot-lot)
Seaver Street at Elm Hill Avenue
Glen Road

Entrances without crosswalks:
Shea Circle (at Morton Street)
Forest Hills Street across from Parkside Christian Academy

Major entrances with no signage:
Peabody Circle (corner of Circuit Drive, Blue Hill Avenue, and Columbia Road; there are signs for Zoo New
England but not Franklin Park as a whole)
Glen Road
Walnut (White Stadium)
Morton Street (near Scarboro Pond)

Areas where people abandon their cars:
American Legion Highway entrance across from Franklin Hill

Parking lots that are usually closed to the public:
Seaver and Humboldt Avenue

Lack of a gateway at major entrances to mark a transition from city to park:
Shea Circle (vehicular entrance at Morton Street/ Arborway)
Peabody Circle (vehicular entrance at Blue Hill Avenue/ Columbia Road)

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PLANNING PROCESSES:
Excerpts from the 1991 Franklin Park Master Plan:
"Access control gates and boulders now in use have been effective in protecting the park from damaging automobile encroachment. After years of abuse by the motorist, Franklin Park's landscape has begun to breathe again, and its woodlands are much safer than when accessible by car."

"....it is time to redesign entrances and control gates to make them compatible with the park's naturalistic scenery, and to present clearer, more inviting park entrances to the visitor. Entrances closed permanently should be narrowed and redesigned without using boulders. Control gates should be redesigned as well. As site furnishings throughout the park, they can contribute to or detract from the landscape. It is recommended that they be designed as rustic structures with puddingstone posts and wood and/or steel gates heavy enough to withstand impact by an automobile."

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